Introduction to Cybersecurity

We live in a world where everything from simple facts to the most dynamic and valuable financial assets are just bits and bytes represented in a computer. Changing, falsifying, or simply intercepting such information can be more devastating to individuals, societies, and even nations than physical attacks and wars of the past. The more we democratize access to information for our convenience, the more potential vulnerabilities we expose ourselves to. This can come in the form of phishing attacks to get access to our bank accounts or social engineering to infiltrate highly secure government and corporate networks. It is an imperative that our future generations are aware of how security works in today’s globally interconnected world.

This course introduces students to the foundational concepts, principles, and tools of cybersecurity. Students will learn what it means to establish trust in electronic communications between two or more parties, how data is secured during transit and at rest, how we secure entire systems, and the inherent risks of ubiquitous connectivity. They will employ adversarial thinking to analyze threats, vulnerabilities, and attacks, and learn tools used for data encryption in network communications.

Students will also appreciate the implications of ethics and judgement through study of historical events in the context of contemporary laws and policies governing the use and treatment of data.

The curriculum is based on the High School Cybersecurity Curriculum Guidelines that covers the broad, encompassing areas of importance to cybersecurity.

No prior programming experience is necessary, but many of the programming techniques covered in this course do not appear in a typical introduction to programming. The programming content of this course focuses on identifying and mitigating risks in hardware and software systems. Therefore, students who take the course after taking other programming courses often learn a new approach to programming that they haven’t encountered before.

In order to maximize our time together during the live sessions, we use a flipped classroom model that includes pre-work for every class. This allows students to program with the support of an instructor during the class. The pre-work includes pre-recorded videos, online reading, and some programming practice.